Talk:Soaplessly Devoted to You/@comment-2.122.23.240-20170704132456
The Good – Generally, Ali's story was very strong. The teaser was excellent, ending with Ali slamming the door on her aunt, and I enjoyed Ben and Ali's reunion, as well as Ali reflecting on her past, and how Cassie and Ben knew right away they'd be foes. Ben, Liz and Val all being together for the story was a lot of fun, as Val was swept up in it all during the walk to the car, and Liz squealing that being in Ben's car was wretched as they raced to save Ali was quite hilarious. Marvin turned out to be more sympathetic than I imagined, at least in the sense that he didn’t abuse Ali or anything, and it's a little more understandable why she hesitated slightly before kicking him out (302). The revelation that Fiona had a part in Ali being taken captive to the basement was very solid, and definitely the best part of the revelations; it added further tragedy to it all and made it indisputable how wicked Fiona was. She's clearly completely and irredeemably evil, so much so that I'll make her a pretty memorable villain, even if she wasn’t around for so long, so that's a good thing. The revelations surrounding Ali's past were on the whole memorable and all made sense with what we knew. The action escalated well, with Ali gaining the knife and her hate for Fiona was obviously understandable, but it was nice to see Ben talk her down. On the whole, how Ali's story linked in with resolving her issues with Ben was a great thing The last scene was perfect. I've honestly never enjoyed Ali, Ben and Liz all being together in the same scene so much. It has the potential to feel awkward if not done right, with Ali and Liz being a couple and Ben being the third wheel, but it just felt right. Natural dialogue. And I could feel the bond between them all, even between Ben and Liz now. The story with Marvin also concluded perfectly, with Ali telling him to make it up to her by raising Cassie right. Ben and Ali's dialogue with each other was additionally perfect, with Ali telling him that secrets have a way of coming out within the house, and then when his does, she'll be there for him. It honestly felt like a perfect family, with Ben, Ali and Liz all together ordering Chinese, and then them even inviting Val to join them was nice. Just a lovely scene. Loved it. Then, to follow the scene with Nadia's return just made things even more excellent, and I'm glad Rochelle's death is now coming back into play. James' death feels like one of the more unexpected and consequential deaths so far this season, so that's a good thing. Joanna being tortured by the visions was another excellent scene – a standout of the season and while I thought I'd be my favourite of the episode, the last scene may have topped it. Each of the visions all played their parts so well, especially Nadia, teasing Joanna over her upcoming return, which I was already excited for. Ben, first, explaining to her that he's quitting to help Ali was a nice moment, stating that she made it easier after trying to buy one of his children. I like that they had some closure with the hug, but I hope we still see some further growth in their relationship. I was a little disappointed that Ben didn’t probe Joanna a little further over what was bothering her, but it made sense he had to focus on helping Ali. I liked the visions then continuing to haunt Joanna during the luncheon. The luncheon was also as awkward as to be expected. First, Silvia and Meghan met for the first time, and then James found out Silvia killed his mother, which was an obvious piece of drama to come. Tyson thinking that he was no longer Joe's brother was amusing, and Joanna smiling at Meghan's patience with him was a nice moment, as he decided he wanted to be a butler like his brother, but apparently changes his dream job regularly. Earlier in the story, there was a good scene of Joe and James finding out they're definitely brothers, while being spied upon and Val realising she doesn’t actually need to work with Kathryn not being around; the dialogue between Joe and Val in the scene was strong. I suppose there's some sense in Josh wanting to die the same way as how Brad did, perhaps because he feels guilty that Brad was in the church and he wasn’t or something, and I enjoyed the scene of him fooling the butlers into thinking he was perfectly fine (Rena and Ben's quips were also amusing during that scene). The story ended with Josh realising he needs help, which is the development I hoped for. The best part of the story though, was how it was Joanna who came to his rescue, and I look forward to see how that will affect the relationship going on. There's two Devious Butlers. That's cool. And Rena's sister arriving to help him catch them is an interesting development. I also liked how Rena's story led to Mary revealing a little more about her character, having not come from a wealthy background etc. Observations – While the development that there are two Devious Butlers is an interesting one, it's placing in the episode was completely bizarre. I'm glad that James won't now be revealed as the Devious Butler, however. I had sort of pictured a story where he already knew about his father's business, and had some sort of mad plan to avenge his father or something clichéd, even if it would have tied-in with season one nicely. Though, maybe, he was one of the Devious Butlers, and now there's just one? Rena also picked a terrible time to tell Mary he loved her. I was quite confused as to why Marvin was so slow in realising that Fiona was bad news for Ali and what convinced him of this, including that Ben and Liz weren't the villains, or how he even thought they were in the first place. Maybe I missed something. I have a few minor quibbles now, but with stories that I generally thought were good, and nothing so bad as to be placed in The Bad'', so feel free to skip if you'd like: -I wish the characters would stop suggesting Rochelle may (or may have) break (or broken) her neck. It was funny the first time, now it's just quite annoying and silly. -I don’t Val's line was funny enough to break the fourth wall, if that's indeed what she was doing. -Ben letting Fiona in the house, without Ali's permission, and then calling her stupid were all frustrating. To make it worse, Ali was being just so patient during the scene, not wanting to fight after Ben just got back, and while he was just being honest and trying to help, he just wasn’t making things easy for himself. Luckily, his dialogue when he talked Ali down from killing Fiona redeemed him some. -I really don’t think it was necessary to hear the whole story from Marvin, and then again from Fiona. It was mostly just a repeat of the same scenes, and it was easy to deduct what Fiona would have been feeling from Marvin's explanation anyway. Fiona's story, however, did then lead to the revelation that she had a hand in Ali's kidnapping, which was a good thing. -Honestly, there wasn’t much tension when Ali had the knife to Fiona's neck, because it's hard to think they'd really be any consequence from her killing Fiona even if she did, since characters escape justice all the time due to faulty investigators or by burying bodies. -Cassie deciding to help Ali was nice enough, but it wasn’t exactly clear why she decided to do so. Her scenes with Ali when they were "bonding" all made it look like Cassie was just pretending, so it'd have worked better I think if we'd got some feeling previously that Cassie had actually somewhat valued her time with her sister. -Josh deciding that his death had to be "spectacular" is perhaps a moment that a good actor could have brought some life to, but it just came across as silly when I read it. '''The Bad – Rena's story. It frustrated me from the beginning. Maybe there could have been a good story in Rena being so delusional that he'd investigate his own girlfriend over being a serial killer, but I don’t think it worked with the clue of the bracelet. I know it was probably to underline just how stupid he was being, that he didn’t right away just ask what the initials on the bracelet stand for, but it was just far too frustrating for me to enjoy. If he had asked right away, he'd have got the exact same answer that he got in the third act (and it was obvious from the beginning that that'd be the case). I usually enjoy Rena's stupidity, but I think this time was just a little too far for me (it probably didn’t help that all the other stories in the episode were far more exciting). Best Butler – Ben, even though I enjoyed Ali, Liz, Val and Joanna's characters all more than any of the butlers this episode. Honestly, Ben did still annoy me a little in the earlier part of the episode, so this wasn’t an easy win. I thought it was Ben's stories in season 2 that caused him to lack behind the others butlers, but I think I have to accept that I just don't like Ben's character as much as I thought I did in season one, if I'm honest. I think his annoyance was hidden in season one because of his love for Justine, so he mostly just came across as sweet, albeit naive. I really enjoyed his interactions with Ali, Liz and Val though, and his and Ali's story was on the whole, a very good one. Josh and Joe were good in their stories, but Joanna was the best part of both. Overall – Another great episode, meaning every episode this season has been great, and this was the best of the season. While I'd still rank it as one of the highest in the series, it just missed out on being an outstanding episode, I think, mainly because Rena, whose stupidity just went too far, and a few other quibbles. Josh's story ended great, and Ali's was generally great throughout. I really did love Ben, Liz and Val all being placed together, and then think that last scene between them all and Ali was perfect. Nadia's return is very exciting. This has been the strongest first half of a season, if we're considering this as the midseason final, so congrats. I'm mainly hoping as we go on that things involving the Devious Butlers pick up, and we soon learn some further clues over who they are or their motives.